Things are not always as they seem — especially in the Middle East

One of the things Jimmy Carter has accused the Israelis of is despoiling Palestinian lands. All may not be as it seems. I got a tip that some Palestinians are trashing their own lands, in the hopes of receiving compensation from the Israeli government and of maligning the settlers. It’s like an insurance scam, only the repercussions are so much more severe for Israel (the insurer) because of the political implications:

Inspectors catch Palestinians cutting olive trees;
Cutting trees and blaming the settlers?

by Tal Yamin-Walbowitz

Maariv website (Maariv NRG) 22 November 2006
www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/508/339.html
[Translation by IMRA]

Inspectors caught Palestinian youths in the act as they were cutting olive trees, claiming they did it at the request of the owner of the grove. The police suspect that he did it for compensation. Now additional Palestinian complaints will be investigated

Are the settlers hurting the Palestinians or are the Palestinians hurting themselves? Frequently Palestinians farmers complain that settlers cut their trees and hurt them and their livelihoods. At times even IDF soldiers and police had to protect the Palestinians farmers in the territories during the olive harvest season. But the police suspect now that in some cases the Palestinians themselves are the ones cutting the trees and then blaming the settlers and demanding compensation from the Civil Authority.

Foresters of the JNF patrolling the Shaar Efraim area today noticed to their surprise a number of Palestinians cutting olive trees in violation of the law as they were damaging scores of olive trees. The foresters hurried to call the police who arrived and held four of them for questioning.

The four were transferred to the police station in Kedumim and in their interrogation they said that the owner of the property invited them to cut the trees for firewood. A police spokesman for the Judea-Samaria District, Superintendent Pintzi Mor, told Maariv NRG that the owner of the area would be called in for questioning.

Sources in the police said that over the years the police have experienced a phenomenon of the filing of complaints to the Civil Authority regarding the destruction of olive trees, along with a claim for financial compensation.

In the last year alone the Palestinians in the area of Judea and Samaria filed claims for 350 thousand shekels for the destruction of olive trees. The police now intend to check the complaints in detail. A senior source in the police told Maariv NRG that “most of the complaints for damage to olive trees were filed in recent years at the end of the harvest season or towards the end, something that increases the suspicion that this is a cooked deal.”

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